Coalition of North American Zoos and Aquariums

Plastic Free Ecochallenge 2023

July 1 - July 31, 2023

Andrea Schlunk

National Aquarium

"Trying to find at least one more habit to add to the others I've carried on beyond all the previous Julys. "

POINTS TOTAL

0 TODAY
0 THIS WEEK
1,415 TOTAL

participant impact

UP TO

37

plastic bottles

not sent to the landfill
UP TO

2.0

advocacy actions

completed
UP TO

2.0

conversations

with people
UP TO

62

pieces of litter

picked up
UP TO

42

plastic containers

not sent to the landfill
UP TO

30

minutes

spent learning

Andrea's actions

Study

Estimate Your Ecological Footprint

I will calculate my ecological footprint, and from the results brainstorm and take action on ways I can reduce my annual footprint.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Kitchen

Fill a Water Bottle

I will use a reusable bottle and stop purchasing bottled water, saving 1 disposable plastic bottle(s) a day.

COMPLETED 29
DAILY ACTIONS

Kitchen

Swap the Snacks

I will swap out 5 prepackaged snacks a day for fresh fruits or veggies.

COMPLETED 20
DAILY ACTIONS

Bathroom

That Was a Close Shave

I will replace my disposable razors with steel razors.

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Study

Buy Only What I Need

I will not buy anything except items required for health and safety.

COMPLETED 23
DAILY ACTIONS

Kitchen

Travel Eating

If traveling, I will bring my own snacks and meals in my own containers to avoid the waste of take-out containers.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Study

Say No to Styrofoam

Throughout its life cycle, polystyrene (styrofoam) can harm people, communities, and the planet. I will refuse styrofoam whenever I can, making sure to kindly let people know why I'm asking for alternative packaging.

COMPLETED 2
DAILY ACTIONS

Bathroom

Green Beauty

When it's time to buy more, I will replace my beauty products with refillable, sustainable, and/or DIY options.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Bathroom

Say No to "Flushable Wipes"

Wipes don't break down in sewer systems, but combine with fat to create massive clogs. I will find alternatives to using disposable wipes.

COMPLETED 29
DAILY ACTIONS

Family + Pets

Rubber Glove Pet Hair Removal

I will use a rubber glove to remove pet hair from clothes, carpets and furniture.

COMPLETED 31
DAILY ACTIONS

Community

Keep My Community Clean

I will pick up 10 piece(s) of litter each day.

COMPLETED 3
DAILY ACTIONS

Study

Clean Up Planning 101

Spend time learning about the logistics involved in launching a clean up, whether with a small group of friends or through an organization. I chose this because I'm saddened whenever I walk around Baltimore and see litter in the streets or in the waterways. I'd like to get my family in on some clean up actions so we as a small group can make a bigger impact.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Bedroom

Ditch Dryer Sheets

I will use wool dryer balls or another plastic-free alternative to dryer sheets to keep my clothes static-free.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Participant Feed

Andrea Schlunk 7/31/2023 2:32 PM
Ending this PFJ and calling it a mixed bag of success for this year. On a last note, I am mulling over a piece of news I saw coming out of Germany. A grocery chain there picked nine items to sell for one week at prices reflective of their true ecosystem/environmental cost. In some cases, these items were 94% more expensive because they accounted for the cost of offsetting NOx, methane, and CO2. Responses from the public ranged from positive, since it spurred them to more carefully consider the impact of their purchases, to neutral, with people simply opting to wait until the week-long "promotion" to end before buying the products again. I wonder what people would say if we did something similar with regard to the cost of plastic.

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- Krystina Jarvis 7/31/2023 2:58 PM
  Ohhhh this is interesting! Thank you for sharing - I'm going to have to look into this. I always say that sustainable products aren't too expensive; conventional products are too cheap. When we actually take into consideration the planetary costs and paying people living wages, the prices of sustainable products are just the price of doing ethical business. But when everyone is paid so little - both on the production side and the consumer side - it can definitely be a big price difference forcing people to make the unsustainable choices. Everything is so interconnected.
  
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REFLECTION QUESTION
Bathroom

What have you noticed about the economic and social impact of switching to steel razors? Was there ever really a need for disposable razors, or do you think it was just a way to sell more things?
Andrea Schlunk 7/28/2023 7:36 AM
Even while using disposable razors, I likely used them far too long after the blades were dull because I felt the cost was already unjustifiable. From an economic standpoint, the cheapest option would be to buck beauty standards and social convention and take shaving out of my routine altogether. Having an alternative steel razor that can hold replacement blades not encased in plastic is a decent compromise. As with many things disposable, convenience and ease of use/decreased maintenance likely played a role in the shift away from reuseable barber blades/straight razors, while the lure of profit probably led more than a few companies down the road of cutting costs and increasing their margins.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Community

How does the act of picking up litter connect you more to your community?
Andrea Schlunk 7/28/2023 7:06 AM
As an introvert, I do not tend to connect much with the people in my community; however, picking up litter is a way of acknowledging the area I live in. I mean it as a sign of respecting my neighbors, Usually, seeing garbage and litter saddens and bothers me on a conscious and subconscious level. This leads me to assume (correctly or not) that others feel similarly. I enjoy spending time in cleaner spaces; I feel more at ease and peaceful. If others feel similarly, they may go out more, too, and that increases the chances of neighbors interacting and forming those deeper bonds of community connection.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Bathroom

Even though they are marketed as "flushable," disposable wipes do not disintegrate in water or the sewer system, and actually release microplastics into our waterways. How does it feel to learn this information? What do you want to do about it?
Andrea Schlunk 7/27/2023 1:38 PM
I have known about the inability for these wipes to truly dissolve for years now. In the past I've been vocal about that fact when family members welcomed new babies and suddenly diaper bags always had a box or two of the wipes stuffed inside. Thankfully, my relatives caught on fairly quickly. That doesn't mean these wipes are any better in a landfill than they would be in the wastewater treatment pipes.

I find it sad that there are other, more ecofriendly options out there, but they seem to be used by a minority of people--at least it seems that way to me. My perception may be skewed because not many people choose to discuss anything related to bathrooms, toilets, and sewage? Or maybe it's just the people I usually interact with.

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- Jaime Webster 7/27/2023 5:17 PM
  Can you recommend any ecofriendly options?
  
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REFLECTION QUESTION
Family + Pets

We know you want to - tell us about why your pet is so awesome!
Andrea Schlunk 7/25/2023 8:58 AM
My dog is amazing, despite her shedding. She's always up for going places with me but isn't as insistent as her furbrother used to be. She's affectionate in an absolutely adorable, quiet way. Her presence in my life enriches it in countless ways.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Kitchen

How does swapping out prepackaged snacks for fresh fruit or veggies benefit your family?
Andrea Schlunk 7/25/2023 8:56 AM
I am directly benefited by swapping out prepackaged stuff by consuming things that are healthier for my diet. The longer I do this, the less I find myself craving some of these unhealthier items. While I can't guarantee the fruits and veggies I'm buying aren't coming from a storage warehouse far away, and shipped in in freezer trucks, there are still fewer emissions since the packaging is eliminated/used to a lesser extent. Hopefully that has a longer term impact.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Kitchen

Was this action easy or difficult to do? How did it change your travel experience?
Andrea Schlunk 7/22/2023 7:10 PM
This action ended up being easier for the type of traveling I was doing. A short road trip lends itself well to packing a day bag with food; it was nicer to get to my destination faster without needing to break in the middle for stopping at a drive thru or sitting in a restaurant (already not an option when traveling with my dog). A longer trip would be more challenging, but having run summer camps where meal planning for a week without fridge access might give me a leg up preparing for a similar situation.

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Andrea Schlunk 7/20/2023 11:44 AM
Pet peeve: when the glass container for a food item is the smallest size of all options, and costs as much as the largest that's encased in plastic. I get that glass weighs more, but seriously?!

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- Krystina Jarvis 7/20/2023 12:37 PM
  I remember a few years ago I stood in the grocery store aisle staring at bottles of vinegar for what felt like forever. I could get one gallon in plastic for the same price as a quart in glass. Ultimately, I ended up going with the gallon and still choose that option today, but it is definitely frustrating when they're set side-by-side like that.
  
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REFLECTION QUESTION
Study

What did you learn about your ecological footprint by using the calculator? What did or didn't surprise you? What are some ways you will take action to reduce your footprint?
Andrea Schlunk 7/20/2023 11:35 AM
At the end of my ecological footprint assessment, I was asked "How do you feel?" and offered a selection of emotions to choose from. To my absolute consternation, I searched in vain for 'angry'--an option not anywhere to be seen. I selected to live in the city so I could walk or bike to work, curtailed my use of a car to once every week or two for running larger errands, eliminated long-distance trips by plane to once every few years...and yes, I'm doing much better at reducing my footprint than the average American, but I'm still angry.

I rent and live in an older building. The landlords aren't interested in investing in more energy efficient appliances or adding upfront costs in renovations with extra insulation. With my rent bundled with utilities, there's little transparency on where my electricity is actually coming from.

Lack of transparency is also infuriating given some of the questions involved the distance the food I buy is normally transported before arriving in the supermarket. "Product of the USA" is a bit vague given the size of the country.

I recognize there are some ways I can continue altering this ecological footprint, from purposefully going to a farmer's market (now that my schedule allows for it), to investing in a more efficient vehicle the next time I go to buy a car. The renting aspect will likely stay the same for now, given the housing market. But maybe I should start hounding my landlord about general improvements and increasing transparency. ;)

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- Maggie Ostdahl 7/25/2023 8:47 AM
  I remember how livid I was when I learned that the concept of a carbon footprint came from or was at least marketed heavily from BP and other oil majors. It IS important to make individual lifestyle changes, however the scale of the problems (climate change, plastic pollution, biodiversity loss) must be addressed with more policy change, else big industry can and will continue to evade accountability and foist externalities like pollution onto society to increase their profits.
  
  ok, deep breath and sipping some more homemade coffee from my reusable mug now ;-)
  
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REFLECTION QUESTION
Study

As you have reduced your spending, what have you noticed about your 'health and safety' purchasing habits? How might this change your longer term purchasing decisions?
Andrea Schlunk 7/05/2023 10:08 AM
Working within the limits of a strict budget for many years has usually made this particular challenge easier for me. If it wasn't something for nutrition, a copay to visit a doctor, or gas to drive to a neighboring state park to walk my pups, it wasn't on my list. Since I didn't have much disposable income, "retail therapy" was never much of a draw. Instead, I would treat myself to higher quality food or specialty meal items. The rest I tried to pour into savings.

In the long term, I wonder about how far I might stretch that definition of "health and safety," though. I'm confident I wouldn't take it to the extreme, justifying every superfluous purchase as "for my mental health" -- but I could easily see going too far into the frugal realm by accident. In that case, there's something to be said for "buy nothing" or circular economy cultures where an object (e.g., a book, vacuum, couch, etc.) already exists, ready for someone to repurpose it. Getting something I need through those avenues would lessen demand (albeit on a minuscule level). While this approach can be more time-intensive, it could also be very impactful if more people join in on it.

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- Krystina Jarvis 7/05/2023 10:21 AM
  This is such a great thought, Andrea! I LOVE my Buy Nothing Group and have gotten so many "necessary" and "for my mental health" things from it. Most of my houseplants are from my BN Group, as well as some other essentials like a pet stain carpet cleaner and a mop. It's always so fun to see what people are offering, and it's empowering to ask your community for what you need.
  
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